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US miners are waiting for their miners but a branch of Homeland Security won’t let them take them.
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The United States Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) is holding up the delivery of some Bitmain Antminer application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) at US ports of entry. Some US miners have been waiting for their Chinese mining equipment for two months already, according to a report.
Charging to hold up deliveries
Seven unnamed US Bitcoin mining companies have reported problems with their shipments, Blockspace reported on Nov. 25. The ASICs are being held at several ports of entry and some ASICs have been held for two months already.
Bitmain Antminer S21 and T21 series ASICs — the latest models — are subject to the delivery freeze. The mining companies affected by the freeze said the CBP, an enforcement branch of the Department of Homeland Security, was acting on a request of the US Federal Communications Commission Agency.
One company said the CBP was charging a holding fee for 200 ASICs it was waiting to receive. The bill has exceeded $200,000, it said.
Another company said CBP Advanced Targeting Unit (ATU) personnel “at certain ports of entry related to the holds.” The ATU identifies high-risk travelers, cargo, and conveyances on behalf of the agency.
Source: Blockspace Media
Related: Bitcoin miner Cipher buys 37K Bitmain Antminers for $99.5M
A tangled web of sanctions?
A company suggested to Blockspace that the delivery freeze was related to Bitmain-relate chip designer Sophgo, which is caught up in a US Department of Commerce investigation in October after chips like the ones it ordered in Taiwan were found in a Huawei AI processor. Huawei has been under US sanctions since 2019.
ASICs from other Chinese manufacturers are not being held by the CBP, according to the publication.
An Antminer S21 on offer from Bitmain. Source: Bitmain
The Bitmain Antminer T21 began shipping in January of this year. China supplies 98% of all chips used in crypto mining. China-based Bitmain has set up offices in other countries to avoid tariffs and has been accused of dumping and price cutting to undermine US chip producers.
Chinese-owned companies also mine Bitcoin (BTC) in the United States, since the Chinese government cracked down on crypto mining in China in 2021.
Magazine: How Chinese traders and miners get around China’s crypto ban
This article first appeared at Cointelegraph.com News
